


Harry James Weasley

by Fishpaste



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Adopted Harry Potter, Alternate Universe, Family, Fluff, For Want of a Nail, Gen, Harry is a Weasley, family au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:09:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23672098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fishpaste/pseuds/Fishpaste
Summary: When Harry Potter was three years old his uncle locked him out of the house at ten o'clock in the evening because he’d spilt a glass of orange juice across the floor. A passing stranger saw the toddler sitting on the front doorstep and shivering and called the police. Half an hour later Harry Potter had been officially removed from the Dursley’s custody.Will eventually go through all seven years! I hope you enjoy!
Kudos: 38





	1. Year One

When Harry Potter was three years old his uncle locked him out of the house at ten o'clock in the evening because he’d spilt a glass of orange juice across the floor. A passing stranger saw the toddler sitting on the front doorstep and shivering and called the police. Half an hour later Harry Potter had been officially removed from the Dursley’s custody.

Upon hearing of this Dumbledore immediately got involved, Harry Potter needed protection and he needed it immediately. The authorities wouldn’t hear of the child going back to his Aunt and Uncle’s home and, forced to think very quickly of a suitable foster family for a young toddler who needed to be out of the media, raised well and, most importantly, protected; Dumbledore turned up on Arthur Weasley’s doorstep at six in the morning with a tired and confused three year old by his side.

Harry Potter grew up surrounded by family and love and the confident feeling of being wanted. He had a twin brother, a younger sister and five older brothers along with a mother and father who never let him feel he wasn’t a part of their family.

Ron Weasley grew up with a twin brother, a best friend who he spent all of his time with. Together they tried and failed to play pranks on their brothers, argued happily about Quidditch teams, learned to cook with their mother and always had someone to rely on.

Harry’s first accidental magic occurred when he was six years old and woke up with bright red hair to match the rest of his family. His excitement was overwhelming and only matched by his disappointment when it faded back to black after a few hours. He spent the next few months begging his mother to let him dye his hair until she finally relented and charmed it as ginger as Ron’s for him.

No one ever noticed Harry Potter when he went out in public, not when he was just another red headed Weasley child running about with his brothers. Harry grew up as a perfectly normal child, aware of the Wizarding world and confident of his place in it.

When his Hogwarts Letter arrived addressed to a ‘Harry Potter’, Arthur Weasley sat down with Harry Weasley and explained how his birth parents had been killed by You Know Who and how Dumbledore had brought Harry to them. He reassured his son that he was still absolutely and one hundred percent his son, how Harry would never stop being his and Molly’s son no matter what. Harry went to bed with a lot of mixed feelings, but still never needing to doubt that he had a family who loved him.

Hagrid had kept in touch with Harry all his life and, when he bumped into the Weasley’s doing their annual school shop insisted on buying Harry an owl to congratulate him on reaching eleven years old. To make it fair he also bought Ron a set of gobstones and clapped them both so hard on the back the brothers almost fell over.

When his trust vault was revealed to him at Gringotts Harry was determined to give it all to his family. Molly was equally determined that Harry would not give away his inheritance. After a long argument when Molly told Harry he would need to save for his future and Harry retorted that his mother had given him so much and he finally had the chance to give something back they managed to compromise. Harry would buy all his siblings school supplies each year but would not pay rent or any other money to his parents. Ron started his Hogwarts career with new robes and a brand new wand. When Draco Malfoy came to sneer at them on the train he asked which of them was the famous Harry Potter; and Ron and Harry Weasley just laughed at him.

It took Harry a moment to realise that McGonagall was calling him up at the Sorting Feast, having been waiting for the end of the alphabet and he felt his stomach twist. He’d half believed Fred and George when they’d said you had to wrestle a troll, and had been relieved it was just a hat, but now half wished it could be a troll instead, how could he show a hat he was brave enough for Gryffindor? He wanted to make his parents proud and get into the House all Weasley’s were in, to show the world he was really a part of that family. The flood of relief as the hat shouted ‘GRYFFINDOR’ to the school was indescribable.

When Snape faced down the first year Gryffindor’s he didn’t see a miniature James Potter looking up at him. Instead he saw Lily’s bright green eyes flanked with messy red hair and almost did a double take. He didn’t treat Harry any better than any other Gryffindor, but he couldn’t bring himself to treat him any worse either. Not when he seemed to see Lily looking at him reproachfully from the eleven year old’s eyes. Instead he avoided him as much as possible and never set him a single detention. He still took plenty of points however, and his bullying of Neville certainly made Harry and Ron hate him well enough.

Charlie Weasley had taught Harry to fly a broom when he was five years old, impressed with his little brother’s skill. When Draco grabbed Neville’s Remembrall and flew away there wasn’t a moment of hesitation before Harry was following him up. The dive for the small sphere was no different from the apples he had practised Seeking with with Charlie and he caught it with time to spare. He was terrified when Professor McGonagall came storming out, but being put on the Quidditch team was a dream come true and he almost burst with excitement. Molly and Arthur were incredibly proud of their son and sent him a new broom, a Cleansweep Five. Secondhand of course, but Harry treasured it more than anything else he owned.

Hermionie had been fascinated by the chance to meet Harry Potter, the boy who lived, and then confused when he angrily corrected her that he was Harry Weasley, and Ron was his twin brother. She had struggled with making friends, and Ron’s accusations of being a Know It All who no one liked had stung. It wasn’t until Halloween came, and Ron and Harry came to save her from a troll that she found herself with two new friends, twin brothers. She never failed to refer to Harry as a Weasley after that, understanding his desire to be publically seen as part of his family.

They all still suspected Snape when Harry’s broom went haywire at the Quidditch match, and Hagrid revealed slightly too much about Fluffy and Nicholas Flamel. Searching for Flamel took simple ages, although Harry debated simply asking Percy for a long time. He knew Percy was very good at knowing which wizards had achieved great things recently, and he would certainly know who Flamel was. They decided that the secrecy was too important in the end, but it was a close call.

At Christmas Harry received a Weasley jumper, the same as he had been given at every Christmas for as long as he could remember. He complained that his mum always gave him emerald green, just because it matched his eyes. He and Ron swapped their jumpers and dug into the sweets and other gifts from the rest of their large family. Their present piles were exactly the same height. The only difference was the invisibility cloak from an unknown gifter.

He shared the cloak immediately with Ron of course, but after a moment of thought he also let the twins borrow it occasionally. McGonagall was driven half mad by the sudden increase in impossible pranks Fred and George were capable of. In return Fred and George lent them a map that they’d found in their first year, one that showed the position of all the people in the school as well as every secret passage.

While prowling around the school under his cloak Harry ran from Snape into an empty classroom and found a mirror that showed images that could not possibly be true. He stood reflected in the mirror, Ron next to him with his arm across Harry’s shoulder and Molly and Arthur stood behind them both. Flanking Molly and Arthur was a dark haired man Harry had only seen in photos that his parents had shown him and a woman with bright green eyes exactly like Harry’s. His brothers were there too, and all his extended family...more than his extended family. As he stared he saw that, mixed among the Weasley relatives he already knew, were people he’d never met but who must be related to him...more brilliant green eyes, knobbly knees just like Harry’s, a shy smile like the one in the family photo Molly kept up in the living room. Harry leaned against the mirror, staring at the family he loved, and the family he had never had a chance to know.

He brought Ron there the next night, Ron who saw himself as Quidditch Captain, and Harry standing next to him as Head Boy, both of them holding up the House Cup and standing out from all their family and, even more importantly, standing together. They visited the next night too, and the one after that despite Ron’s misgivings, until Dumbledore arrived and warned them both away.

When Norbert arrived Harry thought of Charlie immediately, having grown up listening to Charlie’s obsession with the beasts and well knowing where his second oldest brother was and what he was doing. It took a long time to persuade Hagrid however, and getting rid of Norbert was so stressful Hermionie and Harry forgot the invisibility cloak at the top of the tower. But Harry found the anger of the school for the lost points was easier to deal with when his family had his back no matter what. Fred and George reminded him of all the times they’d lost huge amounts of points, Charlie wrote a letter apologising for being involved with the scheme that got his youngest brothers shunned. Even Percy admitted that it seemed a harsh punishment just for being caught out of bed.

Ron felt overwhelmingly guilty when Harry and Hermione went into the Forbidden Forest, he actually asked McGonagall if he could share their detention, just because he couldn’t bear the thought of something happening to his twin while he wasn’t there. They hadn’t been apart for as long as they could remember. McGonagall refused to let him however, and he sat up the entire night, waiting for his best friend and his brother to return. And when they did he wished even more that he’d been there to help somehow.

Exams came and went, and the mystery of the Philosopher's Stone continued to nag at Harry, Ron and Hermione. They began using the Map to keep an eye on the Third Floor Corridor, trying to see if Snape was attempting to break in and subdue Fluffy. Finally exams were over, just as Harry realised the significance of Norbert’s egg, that Snape now knew how to get past Fluffy and that the Stone was in danger of being taken by Voldemort. Dumbledore was gone and the trio decided they had to save the Stone themselves.

Sneaking out at night, stopping Neville from revealing their plan, Harry took comfort in having Ron and Hermionie with him. They used the map to check if Snape was in his office and then began their journey. Harry was supremely confident when catching the key, after years of flying lessons, and he proudly boasted of Ron’s skills at chess when they reached the room with the giant board. Unfortunately Ron sacrificed himself and Harry and Hermionie continued on alone. Hermionie was left behind in the potion room and Harry continued on without anyone to come with him at all.

He faced Quirrell, faced the spectre that had been haunting his nightmares, the twisted, evil face of Voldemort himself. He took comfort in the knowledge that Ron would be fine, that his family would come looking for him no matter what, that Voldemort may have taken his parents away from him once, but Harry still had a family and parents who loved him. He kept that thought in his mind as Quirrell lunged at him, the love he had for both his families, the one that had died saving him, and the one that had raised him. He thought of them as Quirrel screamed, and as firely pain swept over Harry, sending him falling into unconsciousness.

Molly was distraught when the school contacted her to say that both her youngest sons had been injured, and one was still in a magical coma from it all. She tore down to the school immediately to check on them, and was only reluctantly persuaded away by Dumbledore’s reassurance that Harry would be fine after some rest. She didn’t sleep easily until Harry woke up and wrote to her to tell her that he really was fine and she didn’t need to worry anymore. She wondered how to tell him that she would never be able to stop worrying about any of her children, no matter how old they got.

The Feast was spectacular, especially when Gryffindor won against all the odds. Harry thought it might be his happiest memory from a life filled with good, happy memories. He hugged Ron and they both got swamped by the rest of Gryffindor House, all screaming with delight.

On the way to the train home, Hagrid stopped Harry, giving him a photo album. When he opened it to the first page, James and Lily smiled up at him from their wedding. On the next page, he stared at Molly and Arthur dancing and laughing at their wedding. Photos of the Potter’s at school were side by side with photos of the Weasleys. Both his families; put together. Speechless, Harry stared up at Hagrid, and impulsively threw his arms around the Gamekeeper. Unable to express his gratitude with words, he hoped Hagrid understood. Judging by the way Hagrid hugged him back, and the soft smile he gave the eleven year old, he understood perfectly.

Harry got on the train, to head back to the only home he knew, a ramshackle tall building in the country, with a lawn full of gnomes, a broom shed in the apple orchard and the largest most loving and perfect family Harry could imagine. He couldn’t wait to see what next year would hold for him.


	2. Chapter 2

The summer after his first year at Hogwarts passed in a happy sunlit blur for Harry and his family. Ginny was highly excited to be going to Hogwarts in September and badgered Ron and Harry with a million questions as to what it would be like. Charlie gave them weekly updates on Norbert’s progress and the twins persuaded Harry and Ron to help them, ahem, “borrow” their dad’s battered muggle car to test that it worked well. They didn’t even crash it! Not that that made any difference to the scolding they all got when they returned home, breathless and delighted with themselves. Mrs Weasley was less than delighted and all four boys ended up de-gnoming the garden and pulling up weeds for hours. Still, it had been worth it they blithely decided.

It took almost two weeks for Harry to notice he wasn’t getting any mail, and even then only because Hermione mentioned in one of her letters to Ron that ‘I was surprised you would be better at replying to letters than Harry, can you tell him to hurry up and write back?’. Mystified Harry checked with his parents, Errol hadn’t brought any mail for him at all, and neither had Hedwig or any other owl.

Mr Weasley was alarmed when this was brought to his attention, being well aware of how difficult it was to interfere with the owl post. He consulted with his eldest son and Bill came home for a week to check up on the status of the house wards. They could find no evidence of tampering, which only made them more suspicious. Worried, Arthur invited over Moody to see if there was any dark magic around. Mrs Weasley threatened her children into behaving for their guest and chased them upstairs while Moody was examining the wards, for fear that the twins would play some sort of prank that would send Moody in a paranoid state and end up with the kitchen demolished or something.

Banished to their bedroom Harry and Ron had been playing chess when they were visited by a house elf. Ron was gobsmacked, Harry had been raised to be polite though and invited Dobby to sit down. This cued tears and self inflicted punishment. The boys did their best to keep him quiet, not wanting to incur their mother’s wrath any further. Dobby eventually revealed he had been stealing Harry’s mail and that Harry was not to go back to Hogwarts. As expected, Harry refused to consider that particular notion.

Dobby wouldn’t give up that easily however and sprinted downstairs, closely followed by Ron and Harry who were just in time to see him shoot a stinging hex at a distracted Mad Eye Moody and vanish. Moody, predictably, reacted like it was an attack from fully trained dark wizards and Harry and Ron leapt for cover as the wall behind them was blown to smithereens.

Moody apologised of course and managed to fix the wall up better than ever , but the damage was done. Ron and Harry were grounded for the rest of the summer. No flying, no visiting the village, no chess and all homework completed. Mrs Weasley even confiscated Harry’s new broom just to be certain there would be no illicit Quidditch games before school, no matter how much Harry begged that he needed to practise, he was on the team! Harry did notice that Ron got quiet whenever Harry mentioned that and resolved to discuss it with Hermionie when he next saw her. The other outcome of Harry and Ron being grounded was the twins getting bored enough to let Ginny play seriously with them. She was much better than anyone had realised actually. Harry was impressed.

When the time came for the Diagon Alley shop Ron and Harry were thrilled, they’d been itching to get out of the house for weeks now and the prospect of minor freedom was intoxicating. Harry of course knew how to use floo powder properly and, with no desire to incur his parent’s anger yet again, he went straight to Diagon Alley. There they met with Hermione and her parents as well as bumping into Hagrid. The bookstore was overflowing with middle aged witches with stars in their eyes and all the Weasley children eyed the banner proclaiming the author signing with apprehension. They were all too aware of their mother’s infatuation with the blond man, and none of them felt overly inclined to be favourable to him.

Lockhart never noticed Harry in the crowd, another red haired boy in second hand clothes standing with his family. Lucius Malfoy on the other hand was very aware of all of the Weasley’s, and the Potter they thought of as their own. His comments towards Hermione had Harry and his brothers furious, and then when he started on their father...well, if Arthur hadn’t punched Lucius then his children might have!

But there were no further incidents and September first and all the usual chaos of sending children off to school descended upon the Burrow. Even more so that usual, this was the first year that all the children in the house would be leaving! Six children to get up and dressed and fully packed for the eleven o’clock train to Hogwarts. Mrs Weasley had been heard to enthuse about all the relaxation she was going to get now she and Arthur would have the house to themselves. 

Harry and Ron waited for the rest of the family to go through the barrier before following. Or trying to. The barrier was blocked somehow, and they stared in dismay as the clock ticked over past the hour and the train left. Ron’s idea of taking the car was regarded as sheer genius by Harry and the two of them cheerfully set off to fly all the way to Scotland.

They rethought the plan after a few hours of hot, uncomfortable, and hungry driving. Even moreso when the invisibility booster failed and they had to be constantly wary of being spotted by muggles. They managed to get to school without any real incidents though. At least until they crashed into the Whomping Willow. They came out of that incident with several bruises and scratches each, a snapped wand and no car. Exchanging looks they came to the gloomy realisation that their mother was going to kill them, and when they went to the entrance hall and found Snape waiting for them they decided she might not get a chance.

Snape didn’t even say anything to them, just took them to his office, continuing to avoid looking at Harry, and leaving them there. The lack of shouting was somehow even more unnerving than threats of expulsion or dismemberment. Both brothers were convinced they were going to be thrown out. McGonagall shouted enough for two Snapes, and Dumbledore’s disappointment was even worse. The two eventually made their way up to Gryffindor Tower, still feeling as though they had narrowly escaped death or worse to be greeted by a disapproving and annoyed Hermione who thought they’d stolen the car just for lark or something.

Discovering Lockhart was their new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher did not improve their first week. They’d already coped with seeing two red envelopes flying towards them at breakfast, both screeching discordantly at them while the rest of the school looked on and laughed. Harry had tried to hide behind a pile of sausages while Ron had gone brighter red than his hair. At least Hermionie seemed to think they’d been punished enough and was back to being their friend again. But that was small comfort for Harry as Lockhart corralled him outside Herbology, apologising elaborately for not recognising him earlier and assuring him that Lockhart would help his celebrity shine through, that Lockhart would be Harry’s guide and advisor and that he could make it so no one ever mistook Harry Potter for a Weasley ever again. Harry stiffly informed him that he was a Weasley and he didn’t want to be recognised as a celebrity. Lockhart seemed not to hear.

After dealing with Lockhart Harry was even more irritated to find a first year following him around with a camera and constantly calling him Harry Potter. Unsure of how best to deal with either situation he simply did his best to avoid both Colin Creevy and Lockhart. Which was difficult when one was your teacher and the other in your house. He was relieved when Quidditch came around, he’d spoken to Hermionie about Ron seeming upset over Harry being on the team and she’d had a suggestion he wanted to talk to Wood about.

Wood was eager to talk, and Harry’s suggestion made him nod thoughtfully, though he said he’d have to think it over. This was enough for Harry and he was smiling happily as they stepped out onto the pitch. Only to be faced by Draco and the Slytherin team. In the ensuing fight it was revealed just how badly Ron’s wand was broken. Ron, Harry and Hermionie retreated to Hagrid’s hut where Harry plunked his head on the table and declared this had definitely been his worst week of school ever.

School however did slowly improve, Harry and Ron fell into their usual routine of classes, homework, Quidditch practise and relaxing. Lockhart had claimed Harry for detention much to his annoyance and had him answering fan mail for hours on end. The detention was only finished when Harry heard a mysterious voice making threats from within the walls. Concerned he told his twin and his friend but they didn’t have any ideas.

Harry was also becoming worried about Ginny. She was his little sister, he’d known her as long as he could remember and Ginny was usually bright and chatty and full of questions and enjoyment in everything she did. But since coming to school she seemed to have become quiet and sad, withdrawn...almost washed out. Harry shared his worries with Ron, but neither of them were certain how best to help. Ginny denied anything was wrong whenever they pressed her about it.

Finally after Quidditch practise one night Wood held back Harry to talk to him, he admitted it was a good idea, to start to train up reserve players for Gryffindor team and he would let Ron try out for reserve keeper sometime soon. In his excitement to tell his twin the news Harry ran full pelt through the castle, slamming into Filch and getting in trouble yet again. Honestly, he’d been in trouble almost constantly this year, or at least it felt like he had! He did however get invited to a Death Day party by Nearly Headless Nick.

Unforunately the party ended with Harry, Hermionie and Ron standing next to a petrified Mrs Norris and half the school suspecting them of murder. Ron muttered that this seemed par the course for the way this year was heading. At least Dumbledore didn’t seem to think they’d done anything, though Snape seemed more suspicious, wondering aloud why they hadn’t been at the feast. 

Hermionie asked Binns about the Chamber of Secrets and all three of them became convinced Malfoy must be the heir. They began trying to think of a plan to find out the truth, hampered only by the disastrous end to Harry’s Quidditch match against Slytherin. As though he’d needed any extra reason to dislike Lockhart… Colin Creevy’s petrification and Dobby’s clandestine visit made their search for the truth even more important.

The duelling club was an unmitigated disaster, though considering who the host was that wasn’t really a surprise to anyone. Harry was well aware he was a Parselmouth of course, his mother had caught him earnestly trying to convince a grass snake to go and scare the twins after they’d turned Ron’s teddy into a spider. The next morning his dad had sat Harry down and carefully explained that there was nothing wrong with him, but people might get scared if they knew he could speak to snakes so he should only do it in an emergency. Harry deemed it an emergency when the snake seemed about to attack Justin Finch Fletchly and revealed his secret to the whole school.

His brothers and sister knew about it of course, and they stuck by him through the suspicion of the school. Ron never left his side, Percy took to lecturing groups of students on the history of Parseltongue, Ginny showed a flash of her old self and promised to play the worst possible prank on him to distract him (this one worried Harry, Ginny had a fiendish imagination) and the twins tried their level best to turn the whole situation into a joke, loudly proclaiming Harry was the Heir in such over the top ridiculous manner that no one seemed able to take the idea seriously.

Hermione’s idea for catching Draco turned out to be slow and difficult, but on Christmas morning the potion was ready. Mr and Mrs Weasley had practically begged all their children to come home for the holidays, all things considered but truthfully hadn’t been surprised when they’d all decided to stay, all of them were Gryffindors after all, they weren’t the type to run away from danger. Case in point Harry and Ron spent their Christmas afternoon sneaking into the Slytherin common room to question Malfoy. They got no useful information and both boys were only barely able to retrain themselves from getting into a fight when Malfoy began insulting their father. Only the failure of the Polyjuice kept Harry from punching Malfoy as hard as he could.

Ginny’s prank became obvious on Valentines day. Harry swore he would never forgive his younger sister as he tried his best to flee from the dwarf chasing behind him. Ginny leaned against the wall as he struggled, smirking and looking more like herself than she had in weeks. Harry’s bag ripped, throwing all his equipment everywhere, including the strange diary he’d found in Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. Harry didn’t notice Ginny’s face turning white as she stared at the book, too preoccupied as he was by trying to gather his things and dealing with the laughter of everyone nearby.

That night Harry tried writing in the diary and soon had more answers about the heir of Slytherin than he might have wanted. Shaken and unsure, he and his brother discussed with Hermione how best to ask Hagrid about it. However, the diary was stolen away again before they could question it further, and by someone in Gryffindor tower at that! They grew ever more concerned and resolved they had to talk to Hagrid, no matter how awkward it might be. They decided to wait until after the Quidditch match that was upcoming. Ron had been training as reserve keeper since Christmas and was thrilled to be more of a part of the games, even if he wouldn’t be playing in this match. But before they could even kick off, the match was cancelled and Ron and Harry had to deal with the sudden loss of Hermione to petrification.

They snuck out to see Hagrid. But that ended with Hagrid arrested and Dumbledore pushed out of the school. All they were left with was a cryptic clue. Harry knew about Ron’s fear of spiders of course, he’d been there when the eight year old Fred had screamed at Ron in anger and Ron’s teddy had squirmed and warped until it was a spider half the size of the five year old. It had turned back after a few minutes of course, an eight year old’s accidental magic wasn’t that powerful really, but the damage had been done. Ron had thrown the teddy into the fireplace and hated spiders ever since.

But for Hermione Ron would face his deep seated terror of spiders. Once the spiders had been found he and Harry snuck out that very night and went deep into the Forbidden Forest. They met Aragog and barely escaped from him, only saved by the old and battered car they’d crashed into the Whomping WIllow months previously. No answers had been found in the forest and Harry and Ron returned to their beds dispirited and worried.

Harry realised that Moaning Myrtle had the key to the whole mystery and he and Ron snuck off to talk to her. After a brief detour by Hermione’s hospital room where they learned what sort of monster they were up against, they had all the answers they needed and were on their way to the teachers lounge when the announcement was made. Hiding in a cloak closet, listening as the teachers discussed what had happened. Both Harry and Ron felt as though they had suffered a physical blow when it was revealed who exactly had been taken by the monster.

Harry returned to the common room, feeling like his heart had shrivelled up into stone, how and Ron and him not noticed? Why hadn’t they taken better care of their little sister. He sat with his brothers, none of them saying much as they all tried not to contemplate the awfulness of reality. Harry felt the first pangs of real, true grief tug at him, and it was a relief when Ron and he decided to go and speak to Lockhart. Any task, any distraction was worth it right now.

Lockhart turned out to be a fraud and, reckless with grief and fear, Ron and Harry decided to go and fetch Ginny on their own. If there was even the slimmest chance their sister was still alive then they had to find her and bring her home safely. They found the entrance and, taking Lockhart with them, went down to battle a Basilisk and save their sister.

The fight was hard, Ron was separated from Harry. Lockhart tried to use Ron’s wand, broken during their crash landing at the Whomping Willow and ended up wiping his own memories. Harry continued on alone. Parseltongue got him through the doors to face the shadow of Tom Riddle. Tom Riddle who insisted on addressing him as Harry Potter, no matter how tersely Harry corrected him as to his surname. Tom Riddle who took Harry’s wand as he tried to lift up his younger sister to carry her to safety. Tom Riddle who revealed his true name as Lord Voldemort and brought forth the Basilisk. Harry barely survived the fight with Slytherin’s monster but with the help of Fawkes and the sorting hat, he overcame the diary and the beast both, driving the Basilisk fang deep into the pages of the slim volume and watching the ink pool and splash. Behind him Ginny woke up with a gasp.

Ginny was crying and apologising, trying to explain how she’d wanted to come and talk to her brothers, but that she felt like she’d betrayed Harry. Because Harry was her brother and she knew that was all he ever wanted to be, but Tom had become obsessed when she’d let slip about Harry’s past and Ginny had felt as though she’d betrayed her brother by revealing his original surname. The guilt had stopped her coming to her family for help until she was too far under Tom’s control. Harry hugged her and told her it was alright, he didn’t blame her at all, he was just relieved she was safe. Then Fawkes guided Ginny, Harry, Ron and the befuddled Lockhart out of the Basilisk’s lair and to the safety of Dumbledore and their parents.

The Weasley’s cried and hugged all their children close, half scolding, half praising them. Harry and Ron told Dumbledore their story and Ginny tearfully confessed to her part when Dumbledore asked how Voldemort had enchanted a Hogwarts student. Dumbledore asked Harry to stay behind after everyone else left, but Ron insisted on staying with his twin and Harry nodded when Dumbledore looked at him questioningly. Dumbledore explained about the sword, and the true meaning of courage.

Moments later Lucius arrived. Harry and Ron both instantly recognised Dobby and in a single glance they formed a plan, Dobby may have got them into a lot of trouble over the year, but he didn’t deserve to be treated like that. Ron ran ahead to slow down Lucius as Harry quickly took the diary back and stuffed it inside a sock. A few minutes later Dobby had been freed and Ron and Harry ran down to the Feast, laughing and happy again. The year had been full of trouble, but everything was made right again as Hagrid came back, and Hermione ran over to hug them both, and all their brothers were over the moon to have their whole family safe and well again. Gryffindor won and Harry thought his face would tear he was smiling so hard. All was right in the world once more.


End file.
